Now that your tomato plants have started to fade, it's time to start thinking about getting your garden ready for fall.
Arnold Stulce Sr. has a large garden at his home in Soddy-Daisy, where he grows a variety of vegetables. But before he can plant his fall crops - cabbage, broccoli, turnips, beets, curly kale, spinach and collards - there are a few tasks he must accomplish to put his summer garden to rest.
Here are his five top transitional tips.
1 Till the soil. Take out all the large old plants and turn the soil over well. Smaller plants ready for their demise may be tilled into the soil.
2 Test your soil. You can take it to the Agriculture Extension Office on Bonny Oaks Drive for testing (call 855-6113 for instructions). If it's too acidic, you'll need to add lime to the soil.
3 Weed out weeds. Weeding never ends - even in winter. So pull any small weeds so they don't have a chance to develop deep roots.
4 Fertilize. If you have compost, till that into the soil. If you don't have compost, manure is fine. Earthworms are another good soil additive.
5 Mulch the plants with straw. Hay will spread grass seed. Straw is better. Don't use pine needles because of their acidity.